In reply to the software / applications available?
I have been using both ForeFlight and SkyCharts Pro.
SkyCharts Pro allows the calling up of AFD information by tapping the airport identifier on the chart your are viewing on the screen. It also has small round rings that represent TAF and METAR availability for a given reporting point superimposed on the chart. Tapping them brings up the most current information for that location. The weather information is not cached during the use of the program while in wifi or 3G reception, and therefore is not usable in the air.
ForeFlight functions a little different. All of the information it provides, which is a lot, is from separate pages: each accessed separeately from a menu along the bottom of the Ipad screen. There are pages for Airports, Maps, Imagery, File and Brief, etc.
Each one of these will provide info based upon its topic. The Maps screen will provide Sectional, IFR Low and IFR High maps as well as maps that depict weather. The weather pages inclide Radar, Satellite, Flight Rules, Wind, Visability, Ceiling, Sky Coverage, Temperature, Dew Point Spread and Lightning. These map pages all interact with the GPS, but the overlaid information on the maps comes from the wifi or 3G connection and are not available in the air, and they also do not, as at the moment, cache the information to memory, although the charts are always avialable from memory.
The ForeFlight Airport Screen, on the other hand, does load from cached memory the pertenant information on that airport. This data is very extensive, and includes AFD, runway layouts, proceedures, frequencies, Notams, Services, etc. It also includes AND CACHES the most current weather, both METAR and TAF for any airport looked at while connected through wifi of 3G . Of course, as soon as you are in the air, updates to this information are not available, and only the cached information is accessable. The weather information that is cached is not ROUTE DEPENDENT, ie does not automatically download dependent upon the route entered on the MAP page: you must call up each airport you are interested in on the Airports Page to cache the weather info for that airport.
The File and Brief page allows you to separately obtain a DUATS weather briefing and file your flight plan while in wifi or 3G contact. The DUATS weather briefing is cached to memory and can be viewed at other times, including while in the air.
As alluded to above, the various separate screens, Airports, Maps, File and Brief, etc. do not as yet talk to each other. This means that for now, when you fill out the very detailed information on the File and Brief screen, it does not transfer the route to the Map screen; the route must be entered separately on the Map screen. SUPPOSEDLY this will change as the developer finishes porting the program over from the Iphone version. I am told that a ROUTES page will be added that interfaces the information from page to page. Not having seen the Iphone version, I can not comment on this.
Comparing the two programs, Foreflight provides a lot more information, but the airport AFD is not accessable by tapping the appropiate symbol on the chart. I also like the GPS marker from ForeFlight Pro better, is is a very bright blue dot, rather than the somewhat dimmer airplane symbol used by SkyCharts Pro.
Both programs are being worked on by thier developers, as it stands now, ForeFlight is the more highly developed program as far as total information available is concerned; it is also the most expensive, $79.95 a year as against SkyCharts $19.95 a year.
Both programs allow you to download and CACHE all of the available charts, sectional and IFR, as well as AFDs for the entire USA 50 States. ForeFlight using the Airports screen, also allows you to individually download and look at most ICAO airports, and includes weather information also. This can only be done while you have wifi or 3G connectivity, but the information, including weather at the time of download, does cache. These airports, though, are not a part of the permenantly cached charts, etc, and must be downloaded individually and separately.
Other aviation usable applications I am using include Weather Underground ( Wunderground ), Pilot My-Cast and PDF Reader Pro.
The Pilot My-Cast is not yet fully ported over to the large screen format of the Ipad, and also has a subscription rate of $9.95 a month. I only subscribed for one month to evaluate it, and find that ForeFlight Pro is a more useful program, also it only works with connectivity, and does not cache information for later use in the air.
Wundermap is free, and very good for general., preflight, weather information, but again, only usable with a connection.
PDF Reader Pro is used to download and view my checklists and Aircraft Flight Manual or POH, and the various avionics manuals that I have. These can be either scanned images or created using Excel or Word. My checklists I created using Excel, the POH I entered by scanning the pages and the avionics manuals were from Garmin already converted to PDF files.
There are a lot of other applications available that could be of use to pilots, EFB performance calculators for instance, as well as several other software developers are developing applications for the Ipad. For one, Flight Guide will shortly have an application similar to ForeFlight Pro available. I am also told that FlightPrep will have a version of their program available for the Ipad at some date in the future.
The surface is just being scratched. As it stands now, it appears that the Ipad for under $800, including software, provides almost everything that a $3000 Garmin 695 does. The only thing it lacks is a usable Bluetooth connection to devices other than headphones and keyboards, and I suspect that this will be available at some point in the future. This will then allow XM Weather availability in the air.
ONE ADDITIONAL ITEM in respnse to a question asked above:
Foreflight Pro does allow you on the Maps Page to search for both VORs and Intersections, as well as airports, and will place a marker on the Sectional Chart at the appropiate location, well as on the IFR chart it will center the VOR or Intersection on the screen.
TK at PUB